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Wednesday, July 30, 2008

My friend Gary (you might remember him from my Springfield post) and I hatched a plan to have a sale at my house. I desperately needed - well, still do, really - space in my basement for the new inventory I am finding this summer, so I wanted to take all the things that have been in my stores for a year out and put them in the sale.

It was, of course, a ton of work. It took most of last week to go through the stores and the rest of my house, gathering things up, organizing and tagging them...

I didn't buy a newspaper ad, but I did post this ad on Craig's List:

Hi everyone, it is time for the 1st annual Vintage Goodness Backyard Blowout Clearance Sale! I sell vintage and antique collectibles online at www.vintagegoodness.com, and I am out of room - everything is priced to sell!!

Friday, July 25th 9am-7pmSaturday, July 26th - Depends on the weather, I'll post a new ad on Saturday to let you know!

We had maybe 12 people total in about 9 hours, and I sold a grand total of $46, $10 of which came from Will's mom, who felt sorry for us and came over to shop.

We didn't even bother to set up on Saturday, instead I sorted through everything, kept a few things, set some things back to try to sell in lots, and hauled the rest (2 packed full car loads!) to the thrift store.

So, what went wrong? Here are my theories:

1. I live on a dead end street. We put up signs, but just because of where we live we didn't have the advantage of drive by traffic. Parking is also an issue - no cars are allowed to park on the cul-de-sac, which means people would have to park up the street a little way and walk back down to the house - not ideal.

2. I didn't put the ad up on Craig's List until Thursday night. I think I should have put one up early in the week, and again on Thursday night. A newspaper ad might have helped also.

3. The third reason is actually Walt's theory, which makes sense now that I think about it - I shouldn't have put in the ad that I am a dealer. I thought it might attract people, thinking I would have cool stuff - but in reality, maybe it kept people away thinking that there wouldn't be any "undiscovered treasures" or that things would be too expensive. Next time I will just list what I have, and not mention my business at all I think...

Live and learn I guess - at least I got some things out of the house, which I suppose was really the whole point to begin with...

Saturday, July 26, 2008

I was lucky enough to pick up a box lot full of vintage Mego and Azrak Hamway action figures a couple of weeks ago... I had never really heard of them before, but apparently they are from the early 1970's and are highly collectible, like most vintage action figure toys. Unfortunately, mine aren't in their original packaging - they would sell for out of this world prices if they were!

Here is the AHI Frankenstein - I think he is my favorite out of all of them, his face is just classic!

This is AHI's Wolfman - creepy, love the painted on hair on his hands and feet!

I think I have like 12 or 13 figures total up for auction, ending Sunday night - I can't wait to see the action during the last 5 minutes of each listing - these hardcore toy collectors love the sniper software!

It seems like both the handbags an the box purses sell well, and price depends on condition and rarity of design. Check out what this one sold for a couple of weeks ago:

Moral of the story - keep an eye out for these on your next thrifting trip! ;)

I am kind of partial to the box purses, especially the more graphic ones with words in their design (they seem to be a bit harder to find, too...). Here is a Love design I am coveting that is up for auction right now:

Saturday, July 12, 2008

I can't believe a week has gone by since the last show! I hope you all have had a chance to listen. This week we will be talking about Walt's trips to Brimfield (I couldn't be any more jealous!), my lackluster weekend shopping the yard sales, and what we each have been up to online lately.

Last week we kept the show to half an hour, but this week we are going to extend it to 45 minutes and open the last 15 minutes of the show up for phone calls. There have been some issues with phone calls not coming through for some unknown reason, so if you try to call and can't reach us, pop into the chat room and let us know. Well, pop into the chat room anyway, it's an easy way to interact with us while we are on the air! :)

The call in number is 646-378-1561 - click here to tune it at 2pm eastern!

Friday, July 11, 2008

I'm sorry I haven't been posting that often, I'm still struggling with managing my time better so I can get everything done that needs done before it should have been done yesterday. Does that make sense? It does to me, and it is the bane of my existence at the moment!

Saturday, July 5, 2008

My first co-host show with Auction Wally is tomorrow! Walt has titled it "Life Beyond eBay". I did a pre-show post over on The Vintage List blog, which I have worked on getting set up this weekend. I'm working on re-vamping this one too, as you can probably tell. I am thinking of pointing my vintagegoodness.com site directly here...

We are also going to talk about The Vintage List, which I am excited to get to talk about. I have a complete vision of what I want it to become, and I can't wait to get into it with Walt, I think it will be easier for me to express than when I try to write about it.

Don't forget you can call in while we are on the air, the number is 646-378-1561. There is also a chat room that is open during the show, so you can hang out and chat... We will try to keep an eye on it so if you have comments or questions that you want to ask in the chat room you can!

Tuesday, July 1, 2008

It's been a while since I was on Auction Wally's podcast on Blog Talk Radio - the first show is here and the second show is here, in case you missed them the first time around... They were a ton of fun to do, and Walt and I have become good friends since then, talking shop pretty regularly both online and on the phone.

At first we hatched a plan to do another show, to talk about my new project, The Vintage List shop directory... But after a few conversations, we decided not to do just the one show, but several shows together, every Sunday at 2pm - kind of a host and co-host type of situation.

I guess that means I'm now officially an online radio show co-host! How cool is that?

I'm really excited to see how it goes, and of course I want all of you to be there listening, chatting in the chat room, and calling in! The call in number is 646-378-1561 - you can call in anytime while we are on the air.

This Sunday we will most likely be discussing not only The Vintage List but also the state of selling collectibles online in general - the eBay situation, selling on alternative venues, etc. It's what is on the minds of a lot of sellers these days, including me! I don't think I will be able to help myself... ;)